Air Kingdom

Chapter 43-Arena

I don't swear at all. The closest time I came to cussing was when I had ventured to downtown Air with one of the guards. I was only thirteen at the time but I didn't memorize all of Air. The oblivious guard that was responsible for my return, ended up leaving me stranded in a dangerous neighborhood for a few hours. Men gave me perverted looks and children seemed tempted to rob me of my goods. The guard lost his job the next day to no one's surprise. Right now, the same anger and annoyance my thirteen self-felt.

"I told you that rock was the right one. But did you listen? No!" I nagged at Rodas.

About half an hour before, we had passed the same rock formation that sat in front of us right now. I had taken a quick glance at the map and pointed at the corresponding picture. Rodas had disagreed with me, profusely insisting that the actual one was just up ahead.

Guess who was right?

"They look a lot similar..." muttered Rodas. The others wisely stayed out of our fight, knowing they would face my wrath if they intervened.

"I have two younger siblings who are nearly fifteen years younger than you," I said, staring him down as if I was an upset mom scolding her child. "And I bet they could even tell the difference between one large rock and two small ones. Now because of your mistake, we lost nearly two hours of the little time we have. I hope you're happy because you almost risked this entire mission."

Sam stirred, bringing the attention to him. He yawned. "Where are we? Are we there yet?" He mumbled, acting like a little kid.

"Yeah, we are. Come on, we wasted enough time. Let's go over the plan one more time before going in." I grumbled, giving Rodas one more withering look.

Sam hopped off of his camel and pointed at the massive installment not too far from here. He was suddenly switched into business mode. "Since it's day right now, the Krey aren't on duty. But when the sun sets, which should be happening soon, we'll pretend to be Krey and ask for permission to enter."

"Are you sure they'll let us in?" Ellia asked. "I don't want to die because you got your damn facts wrong."

"Trust me, the Krey won't want to turn away manpower. However, they won't accept the weak. Based on most organizations ran by Krey, they would test new members before fully initiating them."

"Test them how?" I questioned.

Sam frowned. "That is still unclear. We'll find out when we get in."

He left it at that and instructed us to stand in a circle around him. "Close your eyes and keep still. This will only take a couple of seconds."

I shut my eyes, waiting for something to happen. My skin started tingling, but I didn't move. Almost as soon as it started, it stopped and I opened my eyes. Everyone looked the same as a few seconds ago. Sam looked smug and happy, but we were all confused.

"Did it work? We still look the same." Serena pointed out.

Sam nodded. "Positive. Unlike other enchantments, only Krey would be able to see it. Airians and Wizards could see through my spell."

"So we get in, find the center of this organization, drop the bomb, and get the hell out before it kills us. Everyone agrees?"

We all murmured our agreements. Rodas pointed at the setting sun above us. "It's almost time to go. It'll be night soon."

I shouldered my backpack. "That's the only right thing you said all day, Ro."

A bunch of questions taunted my brain. What if Sam's spell failed? What if we got killed? What if one of us died? What if we managed to set off the bomb, but Sam still couldn't come with us back to Air?